.

But for me, Neal Adams got it perfect in his earliest 1967-1974 work. You can argue that Adams got even better after that in terms of sophistication and detail, but I think he got it most perfect in his earlier work, his composition, and just the energy of it. Particularly his STRANGE ADVENTURES / Deadman series, and his runs in BRAVE AND THE BOLD, DETECTIVE COMICS and BATMAN.

[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

Here is the cover for BATMAN 224, August 1970, the first issue O'Neil scripted, with Novick/Giordano art, and a Neal Adams cover.

https://viewcomiconline.com/batman-v1-224/

Adams did steady covers since the creature-of-the-night look for Batman began in issue 217, but all were scripted by Frank Robbins up till this point. O'Neil began scripting Batman with this issue, and Adams would soon join him beginning with issue 232. O'Neil and Adams were already making comics history in DETECTIVE COMICS 395, 397 and 404, and BRAVE AND THE BOLD 93, and with GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW, and now were also moving that magic to the main BATMAN title.
I'm torn whether my favorites are Adams' DETECTIVE issues, or his BATMAN issues.